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SPEECH 



Mr. CHAIRMAP^, 

I HAD flattered myself that the bill upon your table, woiild 
have obtained the unanimous assent of the committee. The principles 
upon which it is based, and the justice and equity of its provisions arc 
so obvious, that I was unwilling to anticipate opposition to them from 
any quarter. 

The early movements, however, of that portion of the senate who 
claim to be the friends of the executive, has undeceived me in this par^ 
ticular ; and sensible that resistance was, at all events, determined on, 
I have thought it proper to call on those, who, notwithstanding they 
supported the act of the last session, were thus determined to vote 
against the present law, to assign the reasons for their objections to 
the facts, and deductions of the committee who reported it. And I 
hoped that they would at hiast state some ground, other than the 
changed state of political relations, to justify the vote they were about 
to give ; believing that by this course, I might be able to shorten the 
discussion of this question, by answering at once, all the objectioBS 
which might be raised to the bill, and vindicate, at the same time, its 
justice and propriety. 

I have, however, made this call in vain. Save a few desultory re« 
marks from the honourable member from the western district, [Mr. 
Barstow,]— remarks which, with all deference, I cannot consider de- 
serving a serious refutation ; because they assume no tangible shape, — 
have no definite bearing,— and do not seem intended to support any 
particular principle for the government of the committee. We are 
thus driven to the necessity of carrying the bill by a silent vote ; or 
by anticipating all objections existing here ;— by refuting such as may 
have arisen elsewhere, and which may have weight in the minds of any 
of the committee, to establish the justice of the provisions of the bill 
upon your table, and vindicate it from the aspersions which have been, 
or may be cast upon it. I cannot hesitate in adopting the latter course, 
and shall, as briefly as the subject will permit, proceed to its execution. 

The questions necessarily raised by the act under consideration, are 
within narrow compass ;— being confined to the construction of the act 
of the last session,— the amount of the loans effected by the late gover- 
nor, embraced by that construction, and the rate of premium to be al- 
lowed on them. t w u a 

But the circumstances under which we act, will justify, it they do 
not absolutely require, a more extended discussion. ^'It will be remem- 
bered, that when it was first moved to go into committee of the whole 
on this bill, a pressing application was made by its opponents for de- 



lay. Although it was not distinctly avowed, it was well understooc?? 
that the object of that delay, was to wait for the report of the committee 
of ways and means of the Honourable the Assembly on the same sub- 
ject. Willing to receive all the light which could be thrown on the 
matter, and anxious that the Senate should be possessed of all the infor- 
mation which could be *lerived from any source, before they acted 
finally, the claim for delay was acquiesced in by the friends of the bill. 

That report has now been made, and laid upon our table ; and in ad- 
dition to the questions raised by the bill on which we are acting, the 
committee of ways and means have thought it their duty, to extend 
their inquiries to a variety of other subjects, — among the most promi- 
nent of which are the following. 

1st. The previous accounts between the late governor and the state, 
and the correctness of the balance finally certified by the comptroller. 

2d. The claims suggested to the commissioners and the joint com- 
mittee. And 

3d. The fitness and propriety of the act of the last session as it was 
connected with the respective habilities and duties of the general and 
state governments. 

If we consider this examination with reference to the merits of the 
controversy, or to the avowed causes for the enquiry, we are equally at 
a loss to discover the motives of it. The committee assign, as the 
grounds of their report — 

1st. The disputed construction of the act. 

2d. Complaints of the late governor, *' in regard to the auditing and 
settling of his accounts.*' 

In what respect the question of tlie construction of an existing law, 
could be aided by the examination of the accounts of the late governor, 
when he, for the sake of a settlement under that law, had consented t6 
assume the utmost balance which has ever been claimed against him, 
cannot be imagined. Nor can I conceive why, in order to vindicate 
the conduct of the comptroller, it could be deemed necessary to exam- 
ine into the relative duties of the general and state governments ; or in^ 
to the justice of claims which, if even they had ever been made, were 
precluded by the law, and with which it is not pretended that the du- 
ties of the comptroller were, in any degree, connected, or his conduct 
censured. These matters have, however, been made the subject of the 
severest scrutiny, and as it is impossible for me to know the extent of 
the impression which may have been made upon the minds of the mem- 
bers of this committee, — I hope, therefore, I shall be justified in sub- 
jecting the report of the committee of ways and means of the honour- 
able the assembly, to a brief review in its prominent particulars ; keep- 
ing steadily in view, the respectful deference which is due fioni one 
branch of the legislature to the proceedings of the other ; the proper 
observance of which is of primary and vital importance. 

The first and leading point which will be the subject of our consider- 
ation, is the one which the adversaries of the late governor consider 
their stron^^est in||enchiuent. It is the alleged balance of gH9,629.50 
reported against him by the comptroller, on the books of his office. 

I have already stated that the late governer had consented for the 
purpose of settlement, to assume even that balance, although he has 



ti^roughout protested against its justice ; and why he consented to th?s 
measure it may be proper to explain to the committee. It has been 
stated by the committee of ways and means, thai the late governor has 
admitted that a balance was due from him of §120,000, when before 
the joint committee of last session ; but they have not considered it 
material to inform us under what circumstances and qualifications the 
fancied admission was made. 

It was t\\e intention of that committee to recommend, and it is satis- 
factorily proved that it was the intention of the legislature at the last 
session, to allow the late governor u balance of from ten to twenty 
thousand dollars, over and above the claims of the state against him ; 
for the purpose of meeting particular losses to that amount, which had 
been occasioned by peculiar hardships, and the responsibiUties for 
which have still continued. 

Among the suspended items of the account reported by the comp- 
tFoUer, in February, 1819, were some for advances to certain subordi- 
nate agents of the government, who were deceased, and from that cause 
it had been impossible to satisfy the comptroller of the propriety of ad- 
mitting them as charges against the state. Some paynients also to 
living officers, which were so embarrassed in the complex nature of the 
accountability, that much dispute and litigation might have grown out 
of them ; and other expenses, which, althougli necessarily incurred by 
the late governor, in extraordinary public service, were doubted bj 
the comptroller as being legally chargeable to the state. 

1h the contemplated passage of the law of the last session, the opera- 
tion of which would have been to carry to the late governor's account a 
credit of at least ^131,250 ; he consented to withdraw such charges 
against tlie state as were likely to lead to any controversy, and to suffer 
others to be suspended, which increased the balance on the comptrol- 
ler's book, to SI19,C29.'50, as appears by his final audit of 27th Au- 
gust, 1819. It was under the firm conviction that the principles of the 
law of 13th April, 1819, were fixed, and that the fulfilment of it 
would have constituted him a creditor of the state, and under that 
conviction alone, that the late governor ever tacitly recognised the ba- 
lance of gl 19,629.50, as above stated, 

1'hat the supposed admission of the late governor, in regard to the 
balance of 8119,629.50, was a matter of compromise, the following 
facts will prove. — 

1st. On the 17th February, 1819, the comptroller reports, that the 
balance of the late governor's accounts, ck^JiuctYn^ the suspended items, 
was, S54,534.04 

2d. The committee assembled earli/ in Jpri/, 1819. 

3d. No audit or examination of the accounts, by the comptroller, 
took place in the intermediate time, a space of six weeks otsly. 

It is incredible, tlurrfore, that without any new suggestion ot 
doubts or difficulties on the part of the comptroller, or any further ex- 
amination on liis own part, that the late governor should consent to 
strike out §05,465.96, iciihout an equiralent, r-(\rii 

Yet is he reported a debtor to the whole amount of &119,0-.:9.oO, 
by the committee of ways and rae^ans, notwithstanding all allowance is 
refused under tl^e law ! It is the Ciuek*>t injustice, Jr'ir, thus to take ad- 



6 

vantage of this compromise, and while the terms which produced this 
ideal balance against the late governor, have been withheld by the 
comptroller, to hold him up to the community as a defaulter. 

It is claimed by the late governor, that in justice, no balance what- 
ever is due by him to the state ; that he has honestly and faithfully 
expended in the public service, all the public monies which came into 
his hands ; but his inability to account for a portion thereof, has ari- 
sen from the loss of vouchers, — the infidelity of agents, — the mistakes 
in settlement, and the omission to take receipts, incident to all pubhc 
disbursements, and especially during the hurry and casualties of a 
state of war, — in the expenditure of the enormous sums which passed 
through his hands without the aid of competent agents and account- 
ants, to adjust and methodize such expenditures. On the other hand, 
it is not denied, that the alleged balance of 8119,629.50, is the ut- 
most limit to which his indebtedness could be extended after the se- 
verest and most critical scrutiny of the disbursement of three millions 
of dollars ; — and that there are yet to be deducted therefrom rising of 
fourteen thousand dollars, which are suspended in the final audit, 
(which the committee of ways and means have not thought proper to 
notice,) principally on the ground of informality, but of the justice of 
which no reasonable doubt is entertained. 

I will now proceed, Mr. Chairman, to examine and discuss the jus- 
tice and propriety of the balance reported by the comptroller, on the 
27th August, 1819. 

On the Cth March, 1818, the comptroller made an audit of the late 
governor's account, according to vouchers then rendered. This be 
corrected on the 17th February, 1819, (page 458 Journals,) and re- 
ported to the legislature on that day, that there was due from the late 
governor, to the gtate, g54,534.94, after crediting the suspended items 
referred to in the following extract, ^Journals, 1818, p. 464,) " In 
this balance, however, is included 8131,105.74, which from vouchers 
produced by Governor Tompkins, he appears to have advanced to sun- 
dry officers, and other individuals, to be afterwards accounted for ; the 
charges for which advances have been suspended, as by the rules of 
the office the person originally debited with public monies drawn from 
the treasury, is kept charged until he produce evidence of the actual 
expenditure, according to law ; and in the said balance there is in- 
cluded a sum of 812,340.09, composed of a variety of charges for ex- 
penditures, which stand suspended until further vouchers, or explana- 
tions, shall be furnished to show that they are properly chargeable to 
the state, which cannot be determined from the documents already 
produced." 

Thus it will be shewn, that while in February, 1819, the balance 
absolutely certified by the comptroller, against the late governor, was 
only, 854,534 04 

In the audit of the 27th August, 1819, it was increased 

to 811^)629,50 ; this increase is thus produced, — 
1st. Balance of sundry items found to have been erro- 
neously charged to both governments, after deducting 
sundry credits since 6th March, 1818, 5,560 52 



2d. By not passing to his credit, in August, 1819, the 
items suspended in February of that year, on the 
grounds 1 have stated, 59,528 94 



Making the balance stated by the comptroller, • SI 19,029 50 

To disprove the correctness of the audit of 27th August, 1819, and 
to repel the idea that, in truth and justice, there was any balance dur 
from him to the state, the late governor contends, — 
1st. That he ought, if the accounts were to be set4Jed 

without reference to the act, to be credited with the 

suspended charges against the state, of 1818 and 

1819, amounting to S59,528 94 

for which he has had no credit. 

2d. That the residue of the balance ought not to be claimed of him 
by the state, because the monies have been actually expended by him 
in the public service, and because he has been deprived of the evidence 
of that expenditure, by the casualties incident to transactions of the 
kind, and inseparable from a state of war ; and of the evidence in sup- 
port of the ground he has taken, and of the allegation that he was not 
a debtor to the state, previous to the passage of the act of the last ses- 
sion, the committee will judge. 

I will call its attention, fii-st, to the ^59,528.94 of the suspended 
credits. That these monies were actually paid out by the late gover- 
nor in the public service, and that he produced regular vouchers for 
the payment thereof, no doubt exists, and it has been twice distinctly 
admitted by the comptroller in his official reports. With the excep- 
tion of about twelve thousand dollars, they were refused to be absolute- 
ly passed to his credit before the act of the last session, on the sole 
ground that he was unable to prove that those to whom the monies had 
been entrusted had faithfully applied them. This ground was taken 
by the comptroller, in consequence of a rule in his office, requiring 
such proof at the hands of a public officer to whom was committed the 
disbursement of public monies. 

It is not my intention to question the propriety of this rule in ordina- 
ry cases ; where the agent so receiving, has no delegating power, or 
has no subordinate officers, whose duty of necessity it becomes to ex- 
pend the monies drawn by the principal. But it does appear to me, 
that its application in the case of the late governor, was not oidy con- 
trary to the intentions of the legislature who directed the appropriations, 
but subjected him to a responsibility rigorous beyond measure, and un- 
avoidably leading to the grossest injustice and oppression. 

The laws directing these appropriations, required that the monies 
should be drawn irom the treasury on the late governor's warrants. 
In some instances the persons whose official duty it was to expend the 
money, received it on those warrants ; and in others, it was inime- 
diately paid to them by the late governor, to be disbursed under the 
law. 

These subordinate agenJs consisted ef more than forty-eight persons, 
in the various situations of civil and mihtary affairs, many of whom had 
been employed under the government for years, and part of the time, 
dnrinsr a state of war, l^'ome of them his personal and political enemies, 



who were thrust upon him by the revolutions of party, and whose con- 
duct he eoiild not control. 

Many of these agents have descended to the tomb, and others scatter- 
ed over the union, — and for the tidehty, correctness and integrity of all 
in the expf-nditure, and for the production of th€ evidences thereof, the 
late governor, in the audits of which I have spoken, was held responsi- 
ble to the comptroller. This, Sir, was manifestly wrong ; the legisla^ 
fure never contemplated that the late governor should be required to 
take upon himself the actual ©xpf^nditure and accountability of the mo- 
nies, as was the case of inferior officers and agents ; and the rule which 
might be exp^tlient and just, as it respected them, should never have 
applied to him who had no immediate power to coerce a settlement. 
This rule, Sir, was as dangerous in practice, as unjust to the late go- 
vernor, in its operation, — for by this mode of making the subordinate 
agents of the government accountable to him, they were placed be- 
yond the supervision of the comptroller, whose especial duty it is to 
compel a prompt attention to their several duties ; and 1 am bold to 
say, that by the imposition of the labours of his department upon the 
iate governor, the comptroller has not consulted the interests of the 
state. — For had those agents been held directly accountable to the trea- 
sury, and under the immediate cognizance of the comptroller, many 
sums, now difficult of collection from the lapse of time or death of 
agents, by the timely interposition of the law, might have been saved. 
Had not this course been adopted by the comptroller, all those monies, 
except twelve thousand three hundred and forty dollars, and nine cents, 
would have been finally passed to the late governor's credit, as early as 
March, 1818, and he would never have been held up to the community 
as a defaulter for those immense amounts. 

With respect to the twelve thousand three hundred and forty dollars, 
and nine cents, I do not contend that the comptroller is censurable for 
refusing to pass it to the late governor's credit, or at leat to its whole 
extent. But I do insist that upon every principle of justice and honour 
it ought to have been allowed him by the state. It was for expenses of 
bis command in New- York, in the fall of 1814, and for a great variety 
of small expenditures during that and the preceding campaigns, which 
were rendered necessary by the exigencies of the occasion, but which 
were authorised by no particular law. That the monies were actually 
paid out, was fully proven ; that they have ever been refunded from 
any quarter is not pretended ; that they were expended for the protec- 
tion of this state, at the most critical period of our affairs, is most cer- 
tain ; and to make him suffer the loss of these expenditures, would be 
the rankest injustice. 

It appears, however, Mr. Chairman, that the late governor, notwith- 
standing the act of the last session, directing the comptroller to pass to 
his credit all such sums as he should make it appear had been advanc- 
ed by him in the public service, has not, to this day, received credit for 
the §59,528.94, — for the advance of which he produced satisfactory 
vouchers as early as 1818. The grounds of this omission have not been 
so fully discussed by the comptroller, as the other matters which have 
been drawn into scrutiny between them. It was certainly in the power 
of the comptroller, however, to have exhibited a schedule oftbosecharu- 



9 

(?) 
*?s, and have stated the grounds on which they were disallowed ; and it 
is to be regretted that, in the ^reat variety of statements and elucida- 
tions he has made on the ocrasion, this important subject has been sub- 
stantially overlooked. The late governor alledges that for the reasons 
he has assigned, (the same which induced him to assume the balance of 
^119,(529.50,) and to prevent difficulties and embarrassment in set- 
tlement with the persons charged with advances, — difficulties greatly 
multiplied by the length of time for which many of them had remained 
unsettled, the death of the parties, and other causes, he voluntarily 
withdrew vouchers to a large amount, advanced to commissaries and 
others ; and that he struck from the account all the charges for the ex- 
penses of his command in New- York, journies, &c. with the same gene- 
ral view. This is denied by the comptroller, who, on the contrary, 
asserts that he never did withdraw a single item which he did not com- 
pel him to do, by shevving him clearly and unequivocally that he was 
not entitled to it. 

By reference to the journals of 1819, pages 223 to 2 15, these items, 
thus* withdrawn, will be found specified. They consist of payments to 
the commissar}' of military stores, the assistant coiffhiis^aries, superin- 
tendants of arsenals, commisssinners for erecting pubhc buildings,— 
for the superintendance of public services, — to commandants of regi- 
ments and companies,-— for sundry articles of eatables and groceries, 
consumed by the sick troops on the Niagara frontier, — to prisoners of 
war to enable them to get home, — to James Henderson, the father and 
administrator of James Henderson, jun. for clothes of the son, who 
died in the service, — sundry expenses to Washington, and elsewhere, 
for the public service, &;c. &c. &c. amounting to ^59,528.94, as before 
stated. Had the charges thus^ suspended, and which have not since 
been allowed to the late governor, been passed to his credit, it would 
have reduced the balance against him, (independent of the item of 
^5,560.00, growing cut of distinct transactions,) to the amount claim- 
ed as the absolute balance of F:54,534.04, reported in 1818, for which 
no vouchers were then produced, by reason of the loss of those vouch- 
* ers and other causes, which 1 have before referred to. 

Before 1 proceed to the examination of the evidence corroborating 
the allegation of the late governor in this respect, — derived from ttie 
reports of the comptroller, and the circumstances proved by the late 
governor in relation to the transactions between them,— -I must beg 
the indulgence of the committee for a moment, in submitting to thtir 
consideration a few general remarks on this head. 

By the papers submitted to us it appears, that the amount of monief? 
drawn from the treasury of the state, on the warrant;^ of the late gover- 
nor, as required by law, and for the expenditure of which he was called 
upon to account, in March, 1818, is o?ie mil/ion and sevf}:ti/-/ive thou- 
sand do/la7S~t\mt. these monies were drawn at different periods, from 
the summer of 1807 until the year 1817, when he left the government 
of the state, making a period of nearly ten years. The expenditures of 
these monies was tor the various disbursements of building arsenals, 
powder magazines, and erecting fortifications ; for the purchase of ord- 
nance, camp equipage, and munitior.s of war; for the ordinary and ex- 
traordinary disbursement^, of llic conimissary departments, &c. Sec. and 



10 

iipwartls of hall a million of dollars of it, \va« expeuderl during the WS7 
for the pay and subsistence of the militia of the slate in the service of 
the United States, forage, hospital stores, transportation and expenses, 
with the necessary disbursements for the troops on their march and in 
quarters. The monies were paid out in small sums, and under every 
variety of circumstances. 

As the practice of holding the executive responsible for the accounts 
of all the expending agents under the government, has, as for as Iknovr, 
had its origin with the present occasion. Governor Tompkins, when he 
came into office, found no books of receipts and expenditures of monies 
disbursed in the public service by his predecessors, and not anticipating 
the difficulties into which the accumulated responsibihties, thrown upon 
him by the comptroller, was likely to involve him, he kept no books of 
accounts : Every thing, therefore, depended on loose vouchers, taken 
during the course often years, for expenditures made as well in war as 
in peace; and at all. times without allowance for the regular compen- 
sation of any officer whose duty it was to keep the accounts thereof. 

In addition to the arduous duties of administering the government of 
the state during a period of war, and the mihtary command of the troops 
and militia levied for the defence of the city of New- York and our At- 
lantic frontier, imposed upon him by the general government, were 
added the labour and responsibility of disbursing and accounting for 
nearly two millions of dollars in behalf of the United States, in the par- 
ticular defence of this state, and vouchers for the expenditure of which 
have been produced to the general government. 

I put it to the candour of this committee, whether, under circum- 
stances like these, so extremely embarrassing in th^ir nature, so utterly 
without precedent as to the extent, it is not reasonable to suppose that 
very great losses must necessarily have been sustained from the casual 
Ibss of receipts, from the omission to take them, from erroi^ in the pay- 
ment to and settlements with agents, and from a vast variety of other 
causes necessarily growing out of such complicated and extended trans- 
actions. I ask, was there ever an instance of the kind in which similar 
losses did not occur ? There never has been. And any man, who in • 
view of those facts, would demand an entire and technically correct ac- 
count of those immense sums of money, who without evidence of nial- 
appropriation has not sufficient candour to admit the utter impractica- 
bility of avoiding losses of that description, or sufficient charity to ad- 
mit their probability, must be influenced by the bitterest prejudice 
against the distinguished individual whose claims we are now canvass- 
ing. Rest assured, sir, that the object of that man cannot be the pur- 
suit of truth and the fulfilment of justice ; but that he is influenced \^j 
far different motives. 

Turn, sir, to the reports which are from year to year made to con- 
gress, and you will find, that if to have accounts standing open at the 
trea|pry, is evidence of defalcation — if to be unable to account accord- 
ing to law for the expenditure of public monies, is evidence of the ma|r 
appropriation of them — the most distinguished men in your country are 
peculators and defaulters. But no sir, in most of the cases to which I 
refer, government is well satisfied that the monies have been faithfully 
applied, notwithstanding the inability of the officers charged with those 



'fi[^ II 

• 

♦Expenditures to produce legal vouchers therefor. They are not held 
obnoxious to public suspicion; they are not liunted down by the de- 
praved instruments of ambition, and loaded by party virulence with all 
the opprobrium which personal malignity or political intolerance can 
devise. No, sir, the general government extends towards its officers 
thus situated, that liberality and justice which faithful public servants 
have a right to expect at their hands. 

Again, I ask, is the situation of Governor Tompkins, in regard to his 
public accounts, unprecedented ? No, sir! the brightest page in the 
history of your independence is evidence of the contrary. Even the 
father of his country, the great, the immortal Washington himself ! 
at the close of the revolutionary war, was unable to account for the mo- 
nies entrusted to his charge. By a uiemorandum, made by himself, he 
explains the deficiency in his accounts in the following words ; *^ Through 
hurry, I suppose, and the perplexity of business, I nave omitted to 
charge the same, while evert/ debit against me is here credited.'' 

If, sir, a man of general Washington's known prudence and attention 
to business, was unable to produce vouchers for the expenditure of a 
considerable part of so small a sum as sixty-four thousand dollars, it 
surely should excite no suspicion, and still less lay the foundation of the 
most dishonourable imputations, that Governor Tompkins, whose duties 
were infinitely more diversified, and far more liable to the same acci- 
dents, should be alike deficient in comparatively a small part of three 
millions of dollars. 

The situation of that gentleman was peculiarly severe. A majority 
of the assembly were his political opponents, and averse to the war — 
the arduous task of administering the government of one million of peo- 
ple, at that critical juncture, devolved wholly upon him — he could not 
expect, and he could not receive, from the second officer of the state, 
the venerable president of this body, that co-operation and assistance in 
the discharge of important responsibilities, which could have been ex- 
pected, had not age and infirmities chilled those energies which in youtli 
were conspicuous, and shone forth with such lustre in our revolutionary 
struggle — alone, unaided, with an ill-organized and inexperienced 
staff, pressed with official duties, and harrassed with others which exi- 
gencies had compelled him to assume — what human power could es- 
cape the difficulties into which he has been driven ? and what but mi- 
raculous interposition could have enabled him to produce vouchers for 
the minute expenditure of the monies which passed through his hands '^ 
At the close of our revolutionary war, the same causes produced the 
same embarrassments in the settlement of the accounts between the 
government and its officers, and between the general and state govern- 
ments : Vast sums had been expended, which, although not authorized 
by the resolves of congress, became indispensable (o meet the ever 
changing exigencies of war ; vouchers to a great extent had been lost, 
and those which existed, were in many respects defective : To meet this 
state of things, commissioners were appointed by law to settle those ac- 
counts upon principles of general equity, making provision to guard 
agaiast injury from the loss of vouchers, as well as from their, irregula- 
rity : Upon these principles the accounts were settled to the satisfac- 
tion of all who felt friendly to the cause in which those raenies had been 






M 



expended. Ihere were not wanting, however, at ihat day, ir.cn, who, 
humbled by the course they had pursued in that ever j^lorious coijtesi, 
and anxious to reg-ain their lost influence, laboiii ed to excitt tljc pubhc 
jealousy against every measure having for its object indemnity to thosc 
who had suffered in the public cause. That there are. now also, nun 
who carp at legislative justice and liberality, and who bitterly revile 
Governor Tompkins with the same views, arising from similar causes, 
is, unfortunately for the welfare of the community, too apparent : But 
I am unwilling to doubt that those just and liberal principles of settle- 
ment would fail, at this day, to meet the approbation of the patriotic 
and enlightened citizens of this state, many of whom have been lavish 
of their blood, and what is s(ill dearer, the blood of their children, in 
defence of their firesides and their altars, under the administration of 
the man whose services and sacrifices are now decried by his enemies. 
The time has been, sir, when even the man who has brought about 
this controversy, appeared to feel the force of these general considera- 
tions. When this subject was before the comniissioners, Golden and 
Bogardus, when the settlement of the accounts had been taken out of 
the hands of the comptroller by the legislature, and when better feel- 
ings towards Governor Tompkins appeared to influence all, no doubt 
existed that the affairs between him and the state would be settled on 
terms both honourable and just. The conjptroller, to use the language 
of the commissioners, stated to them that *' he was well persuaded 

THAT THE LATE GOVERNOR MIGHT HAVE SUSTAINED GREAT 
LOSSES IN CONSEQUENCE OF MISLAYING OR LOOSING VOUCHERS." 

Although the comptroller has thought it necessary to correct what he 
supposed the possible misconstructions of the report of the senate in 
small matters, he does not question this assertion of the commissioners. 
It is then conceded by him, that such were his opinions and feelings on 
this subject. What has changed them ? Were they founded on par- 
ticular evidence of loss ? He did not pretend it. Whence then this 
unceasing solicitude, this unwearied industry on hi= part, to repel every 
presumption in favour of an allegation which obtained confirmation 
from his own declarations ? Then, the belief that losses had arisen from 
that source was common to all : Now, it is sought to be stigmatized a-s 
a false and fraudulent pretence, and the whole vocabulary of billings- 
gate is exhausted to heap upon it terms of reproach. 

I ask again, sir, whence this change? — -does it not indicate an un- 
seen hand ? does it not point to the dark and dismal clouds in our poli- 
tical atmosphere, which ought not, but which it is to be feuVtd has had 
a most appalling influence in these matters ? 

But to stamp the utmost verity on the presumptions thus avisinij, (o 
rivet the conclusion beyond the reach of refutation, the late Governor 
refers us to the report of the Comptroller in 1813, aud a comparison 
of it with the allowances which have been made to him on the final au- 
dit of his accounts by the same Comptroller, I will detain the commit- 
tee by a simple statement of these important particulars, and a briei 
discussion of the attempts which have been made by the Comptroller 
to resist the strong conclusions which have been, and which may, I 
thijsk justly, be drawn from them. 

On the 12th June, 1812, in aaticipatioo of a state of war, an ac^ 



13 

was pfissed farther to provide for the defence of liie frontiers of this 
state, authorisiua: the expenciitmv of lar^^e sanis of looney, for purpo- 
ses tonnecled with the "eueral object of defence, (Hrecting- that the 
inonirs shauhl he drawn from the treas\iry on the warrant of the gov- 
ernor. Lnder this act lari^e sums of money were received and expen- 
ded by the late i^overnor, which is now inciiuled in the account stated 
ai^ainst him. 

Duria'c the session of 1813, a period of great party excitement, ari- 
ain«: from the diiierence in ))oHlical sentiment betwettn the executive 
and the house of assembly, and the different g'rounds taken by them 
in rehition to the war. in wiiich the country was then involved, a reso- 
lution was passed, callino- on the comptroller to report to that house a 
detailed statement of monies drawn from the treasury by virtue ot the 
.'ict further to provide for the defence of the froiitiers, passed i2ih June, 
^b\2y and of the expenditures thereof, according to the vouchers re- 
turned and filed in his otfice. 

In obedience to that resolution, the comptroller, on the :3d of April 
al\er, made a report to the assembly, in wliich he stated " tliat the 
" various expenditures made under the ditft-rent sections of said act, 
*' accordiuir to the accounts and vouchers exhibited by the governor^ 
" and then on hie in i)is othce," amounted to S^ •'>•>. "''^'^ 5^> — classing 
them as far as practicable under the diift-rent strclions of the act ; but 
not stating the dates or sums of the vouchers. These vouchers not 
having been jinssed to tlie absolute credit of the lale governor, nere, 
according to his statement, in the spring of 1814 returned. The comp- 
troller, however, contends that it was in 1818 that the return was made ; 
the dirterence is not very important, but from the comptroller's admis- 
sion that part was retained until 1814, the probabilities incline to the 
governor's declarations. 

The withdrawal was made f:>r tiie purpose of better arrangement, and 
to add supplemental cfiarsres for iinal settlement ; but upon the relurn of 
the messenger who had been sent for them, it is ascertained by the late 
governor that a considerai)le part are missing, and he sends immedi- 
ate notice thereof to the couiptroller, wiio is unable to find mort* than 
;» few scattering and detacht-d papers. The vouchers thus lost, must havw 
heme date subsequent to the l-2ih June, 1812, and previous to the :idoi 
April, ISl.'i, the date of t!ie comptroller's report. 

hi the course of the last fall, tlie la'e governor caused the several 
audits of his accounts with the state made by the comptroller, to be ex- 
amined bv four able accountants, viz. Jonathan Tliompson, Thouias 
Morris, James B. Murray, and 1. Q. Leake, Esqnirt^s, who after dili- 
gent scrutiny thereof, certiHed that upon a careful examination «>f ^^1^ 
the credits s-eceived by the late governor, dowii to the last audit of his 
account in August, i8iU, he had been allowed for expenditure's under 
^\\Q act of l-2th"June, 1812, bearing dates between the passage of the bill 
and the date of the report, only S9;>.188 II, making a diiference be- 
tween what had been produced in 1813, and what was actuallv credited 
at the final audit, of S'^HJoO 45, a sum corresponding within one or 
two thousand dollars with tiie amount of the balance reported against 
(Governor Tompkins by the comptroller in 1818 and lJ^i9, for which 
no vouchers were rendered. 

The remarkable coincidence in these sums, and the obvious fairness 



14 

oi the inference drawn from the statements by which they are produc- 
ed, cannot fail to strike every unprejudiced mind with ptruliar force ; 
uncontradicted oriinrefuted, they can bear no reasonable doubt, that the 
greater part, if not the whole of the deficiency in the late governor's 
accounts accrued from the loss of vouchers on these occasions. 

It has been so considered by the comptroller, and assuming; the im- 
putation of an intentional suppression of them, ag-ainst himself, which 
was never made by the late governor, — thus addintij strong personal 
feelings to what he mig^ht consider the obligations of duty, he has left 
110 effort untried, no industry spared, to repel the deductions which were 
made from the facts 1 have stated. 

I will trespass upon the patience of the committee by a brief exam- 
ination of the various grounds which have been assumed by the comp- 
troller on this point ; and if the facts disclosed, make the same impres- 
sion upon their minds, which on a careful consideration of them, they 
do on mine, they must be perfectly satisfied, that the conclusions of 
the late governor are confirmed, and the position of the comptroller 
tliroughout untenable. 

When this staten)ent was first laid before the public, it was immedi- 
ate}}- reported by the eneinies of Gov. Tompkins, that the vouchers 
which were thus missing, had besn transmitted by him to Washington, 
and there allowed to hin». 

An article under the signature of " Economy," appeared in one of 
the papers of this city, which was twice published in the Register ; 
and the public mind, (with how much truth, I know not) impressed 
with the belief that it originated from a high official source, requesting 
a suspension of public opinion ; and assuring them, that in a short 
time, the reports which were so industriously circulated, that those 
vouchers had been thus transmitted to Washington, would be amply 
verified. 

The attempt to redeenj this pledge has been made, but except as to a 
few trifliKg and unimportant particulars, it has most grossly failed. 
To the abortive attempt, and the reasons assigned for its failure, I 
shall hereafter call the attention of the cotnmitlee. 

The ground which is now taken upon this subject, and that upon 
which the committee of ways and means have placed their principal re- 
liance, is, that the items of credit included between the dates before 
mentioned, amount to a greater sum than is stated in the certificate 
of Messrs. Thompson, Morris, Murray and Leake, and therefore that 
the deficiency does not exist to a greater extent than S22,:]00 ; and in- 
to the examination of this position, I will first proceed. 

To show that a larger amount of the credits reported in 1813, have 
been allowed to the late governor, in the final audit of his account, 
than is certified as above, the comptroll«rr has furnished the commit- 
tee of ways and means with a statement which accompanied their re- 
port, — marked No. 1. 

Independent of the many objections which exist to particular parts 
of this statement, our attention cannot fail to be excited by the very 
general and unsatisfactory manner in which it is constructed. Instead 
of giving us an account for what each enumerated voucher was expewl- 
ed, that wemisrht be able at one view to see whether the disbursement 



15 

v.as wiirranled by the act of the 12th June, the dates, numbers, and 
amounts of the vouchers are alone set forth ; thereby rendering it neces- 
sary, in order to detect any error it may contain, not only that we 
should perfectly understand the various particulars of that act, but 
that we should recur to the original vouchers in his office, or to the 
diflereiit statement of allowances made by him in 1818 and 1819, scat- 
Ifred over the journals of the legislature at that period ; I do not say 
thpt thrse circumstances render it impossible, with labor and care to 
test thig statement; but I do say it is thus rendered so difficult and 
complex as to make it in the last degree impracticable, and situated 
as we are, it could not reasonably be expected, that such examinations 
would be made ; nor is it unworthy of notice, that this statement 
contains under this single act, all the allowances for expenditures 
made to the late governor of every description, between the periods re- 
ferred to, except about g5000. 

But there are ojections to this statement which, to ray mind, are 
unanswerable, appearing on its very face. — They are 

1. On referring to the reports of the comptroller to the legisla- 
ture, in 18l:j, and 1810, and to the list of warrants, it will clearly 
be seen, that no monies were drawn out of the treasury under this act, 
(except for camp equipage and fortifications which are included in his 
statement to the full amount,) before the 11th day of August, 1812 ; 
of consequence all vouchers bearing date between the l-2th June and 
the 11th August (except for camp equipage and fortifications) cannot 
with any propriety, be considered as included in the report of 1813. — - 
Upon referring to the statement under consideration, it will be found 
that vouchers subject to this objection, are included, to a large amount, 
(here Mr. Van Buren read the items to the committe.) 

2. The comptroller, in his report to the assembly, in 1816, says, that 
the vouchers on which his report of 3d April, 1813, was founded, were 
delivered to hira by the late governor in January or February, of that 
year : Of course no items of credit, included in the statement 1 am ex- 
amining, after that period, can possibly have been in the report of 3d 
April, 1813 : And upon referring to this statement, it will be found to 
include vouchers subject to this objection. [Here Mr. V. B. specified 
the items and the amount.] 

3. This statement contains an item including payments made to John 
Vernor, which upon reference to the report of 1816, page 531, the 
comptroller has himself officially excluded from the expenditures under 
the act of 12th June, 1812: It is absurd, therefore, that in order to 
swell the statement he should include this sum. 

4. There are also various items of payments included, for the erec- 
tion of arsenals, pay of keepers, to commissaries, &c. which appear to 
have been expenditures under the act of February, 1808. 

5. Into this estimate is also taken the whole of statement No. 2, of 
vouchers bearing date between 12th June, 1812 and 3d April, 1813, 
which the comptroller says have not been allowed to the late governor, 
and tvere probablif intluded in the report of 1813 ; which statement 
appears to have been compiled from the rejected and suspended items 
of the audits of 1818 and 1819. This attempt to account for the lost 
vouchers, by impeaching the correctness of his official statements m 



10 

1SI3, is cfrtainiy extraordinary in 3n ofricer whose peremptory conclii- 
siorivS are ahvisys in favour of his own accuracy, and who draws such 
uucharitabje conjinentarics ^spon the lui.stakes of his adversary. It is 
certainly arrog-atiiig- too much to set up his audits and reports as infalli- 
ble, and whenever it is found convenient for his purpose, to prove tl^ein 
erroneous. Against this, sir, I protest; and the whole of the state- 
ment No. '2, air.outUing to 10,204 00, is manifestly included without 
a shadow ot reason. 

If they were vouchers for expenditures warranted by that act, why 
does not the couiptroller affirm it ? and why have they not been allow- 
ed to the late s:overnor ? If they were not, why is it probable that 
they were included in it ? Did that report includ^e what it ought not ^ 
and was it an imposition on those wi.o called for it ? 

That I am correct in my conclusion, is evident from the doubting 
manner in which the comptroller speaks of it ; exhibitinjj an unwilling- 
ness to commit himself in the positive assertion that it was included in 
the report of 1813. Were these vouchers, thus erroneously included in 
the statement under consideration, which I have enumerated, in the 
hurried examination I have been able to give the subject, added to the 
deficiency which the comptroller admits, the vouchers rendered in 1813, 
it will be increased to upwards of 57,000 dollars. 

Having thus endeavoured to satisfy the committee that this recently 
adopted metliod, of accounting for the deficiency of the credits contained 
in the report of 1813, was erroneous ; and, as 1 hope, succeeded to the 
satisfaction of every unprejudiced mind,- — I will proceed to the discus- 
sion of the remaining points which have been urged on this head, by 
the committee of ways and means, and the comptroller. 

First is the allegation, which was heretofore put in the front raiik^ 
but which is now brought forward as an auxiliary, that the vouchers, 
which, by this point, it is conceded were once in the possession of the 
comptroller, but which are now missing, have been allowed to the late 
governor at Washington. I have before stated, that the attempt to ac- 
count for the missing vouchers in this manner, has grossly failed ; and 
that a {itw moments examination of the subject, will satisfy the com- 
mittee that the assertion was not lightly made. 

The committee of ways and means, Mr. Chairman, has informed us 
that the whole of the expenditure of the eighth section of the act of 
12th of June, 1812, amounting to S25,'i79.i)4 was of a nature to be 
allowed to the late governor at Washington, if charged there ; — admit, 
for a moment. Sir, that all the disbursements under that section, that 
were included in the report of 1813, have been carried to Washington, 
there would still be a deficiency of S-31»37(i.51, yet unaccounted for. 
But, Sir, this does not appear to be the case. By a cursory examination 
of the credits of the late governor, in the various audits I find items 
which bear date between June, 1812, and 3d April, 1813, properly al- 
lowable under the eighth section above mentioned, amounting to up- 
wards of gl4,000. This is of itself sufficient to put at rest the clamor 
of vouchers at Washington. It is no way probable, Sir, that the missing 
vouchers comprised all the expenditures under the eighth section of the 
act of 12th June ; they rather, as the preceding fact evinces, were com- 
posed of disbursements exclusively chargeable to this state ; and in ad- 



17 

'JiUon to the incoiiteslible evidence wliich has already been adduced, to 
shew that these vouchers, once proved to have been in tht; comptroller's 
hands, have never passed to tlie credit ot Governor Tonjpkins, I will 
add another fact, which appears to have escaped the notice of that gen- 
tleman, and which affords the strongest contirnuttion of the correctness 
of his position. 

In the report of ;id April, 1SI.:3, the comptroller, in his credits to 
Governor Tompkins, has included the following sums, page 117, Ap- 
pendix to Journals of Assembly. — 

For cannon, ^1,435 50 

For powder, 0,04:5 00 

Amounting- to ^7,478 50 

I have examined the credits with the greatest care, and 

1 cannot discover that more than 3,692 50 



has been allowed for ^lose objects— making- S3,786 00 

which, under no circumstances, could be considered as proper charges 
against the United States, and allowed at Washington. Where are the 
vouchers ? It is demonstrated to conviction, that they were once in the 
comptroller's possession ; it is equally certain that they have never 
been credited to the late governor ; — they cannot be in his possession, 
for he can have no motive for withholding them ; and the conclusion 
irresistibly follows, that they were lost, with others, in 1813. 

With regard to the assertion of the committee of ways and means, 
and the comptroller, in relation to these lost vouchers, a point from 
which so much has been promised, and so little performed, I will ob- 
serve,— -After the most diligent enquiry and examination ; after search- 
ing the offices at Washington, and obtaining transcripts of all the late 
governor's accounts with the general government, it has been discover- 
ed that expenditures which appear to have been included in the report 
of 1813, to the amount of one thousand and fifty-six dollars, being just- 
ly chargeable to the general government, have been allowed t'here, and 
never credited to the late governor by this state, viz. 
Paid to David Parish, damages to his lands for fortifications, S200 
Purchase of cannon ball picked up, and ammunition taken 

front the enemy, 131 

W'ages to armorers and quarter-masters' sergeants, 122 

Paid for boat Industry and bark canoe, 503 

Paid for secret service, Sec. 100 



8105(1 

These, Sir. are the charges, and (hey :.re all the charges of expenditure 
embraced by the report of 1813, the vouchers for which appear to 
iiave been transmitted to AVashington, out of nearly sixty thousand dol- 
lars which are missing ; — as they have never been allowed to the iate 
governor by this state, and as no man who knows any thing about it, 
pretends that there is any impropriety in the transmission, i will not, 
tiierefore, occupy the time of the committee, by noticing tht^m far- 
ther, — nor can it be necessary, with intelligent men, to enter into a 
discussion to prove the extreme weakness of the presumption, thai bi- 

3 



18 

cause these few trifling items were, by mistake, iuciuded in the vtpoit 
of 1813, that therefore the vouchers for S56,756 of expenditures under 
that act, FORTY-FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS of uhich, at least, were 
pot chargeable to the United States, and could not, in any event, be 
allowed to Governor Tompkiqs at Washington. 

But we are told t'lat even if losses of vouchers had taken place, at the 
period referred to, no pecuniary losses could have been sustained ; that 
duphcates must have remained to the late governor, ready to be pro- 
duced in the absence of the originals. However specious this assertion 
may be, Mr. Chairman, or with whatever confidence it may be urged, 
it can only deceive the ignorant, or delude the unwary. The only du« 
phcates which could have been in the possession of the late governor, 
must have receipts of the sub-agents of the government, for advan- 
ces made to them ; but in regard to expenditures by them, it is the 
constant practice of sub-agents to retain one set of the vouchers, and 
render the other to the principal ; of course, if any duplicates existed 
at all, in the nature of things, they would not have been in the late go- 
vernor's hajids. As, however, the voucher for the boat Industry, has 
been rendered so conspicuous in the intemperate discussions which 
have been had op this subject, the committee will, 1 hope, pardon me 
for submitting, in a few words, the fact in regard to it. When the 
comptroller made his report in 1813, this voucher, which was proba- 
bly chargeable to the general government, was mixed with the vouch- 
ers of expenditure under state authority, and included by the comptrol- 
ler in his report. After it was returned to the late governor, it was, as 
it opght to have been, with his accounts up to that period, charged to 
the Unitjed States, and passed tp his credit by them. Nothing more 
was heard about it, pntil the meeting of the commissioner^, in March, 
1818, when in confirmation pf the late governor's allegation of the loss 
of vouchers, the Comptroller himself stated that he and Mr. Ely, 
remembered a voucher for the purchase of a vessel on Lake Ontario, 
which was among the credits reported in 1813, but which had not been 
included in any subsequent account. The circumstance was regarded 
at the tim« as corroborative of the presumption that the late governor 
Jiad sustained losses in vouchers at that period. Upon discovering that it 
had been charged to the general governn^ent, it was entitled to no fur- 
tiier consideration ; still, strange as it may appear, this circumstance, 
so innocent and unimportant in itself, has been bandied through the 
state, as a matter of grave and serions import, and as aflfording ground 
for the severest crimination. Thus it is, 8ir, that in periods of great 
excitement, when strong passions and prejudices, are afloat, trifles, 
light as air, swell into importance, to fill the mouth of slander, for a 
moment, and excite contempt and ridiople for the future. 

But we are tojd that the comptroller's inability to trace tlie other 
vouchers, arises from the refusal of the late governor to furnish him 
with a list of the vouchers supposed to have been lost, and with cer-" 
tain abstracts which are alleged to be necessary to that end ; the utter 
impracticability of furnishing such list, when it is believed that ab- 
stracts, as well as vouchers, are missing, further than they are contain- 
ed in those preserved, must be obvious to every person. 

The allegation of the late governor, in bis letter to the comptroller. 



1& 

i5» ibat part onbj of those abstracts were returned to Mm ; it cannot 
be expected from these partial sources, can be extracted an ample list 
of the missing vouchers ; and it appears, that although the late gov* 
ernor declined to permit to the comptroller any further familiarity with 
his papers, he evinced a willingness to see him in the presence of 
friends, and give him any information required. This invitation, it 
appears, the comptroller declined. It is not my intention, sir, to dis- 
cuss at large, the relative grounds taken by the parties to this contro- 
versy, in that particular — to examine particularly into the sufficiency 
of the reasons of the late governor for refusing to the comptroller and 
his agents, all access to his papers, except in the presence of indiffer- 
ent persons ; or of those alledged by the comptroller, for declining the 
appointed mode for obtaining the information, he claims to have been 
of such vital importance, not only to elicit the truth, but as he suppo- 
ses, to vindicate his own character. 

But I cannot forbear remarking, that from the manner in which the 
private papers of the late governor were published, in 1818, by the 
comptroller, with his offensive remarks upon them, — from the trans- 
mission of his papers to Washington by Col. Pell, without his know- 
ledge or consent, — from the use which has been made of the schedule 
attached to the opinion of his counsel — the comptroller could not have 
anticipated less than a peremptory rt^fusal, and his declining the quali- 
fied permission which he requested, is evidence of his disappointment 
on that occasion. 

To have complied with this request in its fullest extent, under cir- 
cumstances so extraordinary, would have exhibited another striking iu- 
Stauce of the unsuspecting mind of the late governor ; and he appears 
to have gathered caution from experience, in regard to his papers. 

Had the object of the comptroller, been a fair adjustment of his ac- 
counts with the state, he undoubtedly would have iarnished any infor- 
mation in his power. But if hy had reason to believe, and did believe, 
that such were not the views which actuated the comptroller ; but that 
on the contrary, if they had appeared to his advantage, they would 
have remained unnoticed,— and if they could be tortured and pervert- 
ed to his prejudice, they would be seized upon \yith avidity for that 
purpose, iavi men living, would have hesitated in declining, eveu 
the qualitied permission which was granted. 

But is it true, sir, that the production of the few abstracts \\\\\ch 
were returned to the late governor, at the period referred to, were in- 
dispensibly necessary, to'^ enable the comptroller, or those employed 
under him", for this purpose, to ascertain whether those monies had 
been allowed at Washington ? I deny that they were so. The reasons 
which are assigned for this position, are unsatisfactory. 

The allegation of the comptroller, is, that the ex|)enditures author- 
ized by the 8th section of the act of June, ISl'i, were so like those an- 
•' - . . .1 . • 11-. ,^.. ...... ,i..,i \\\i 



thorized by the general government, that monies actually expended by 
the state, might have been allowed at Washington. That the expen- 
ditures included in his report, of 181:J, of that description, aiuounted 
to S'25,:i79 94, and that because he has found a few hundred dollars, 
he Very charitably concludes, that all the others are there, also. \> e 
have before remarked, that if even the comptroller's surmises were ad- 



m 

ii'itted, atid fliut tlie whole S«5,o79 9l, had been transmitted to Wash- 
ing-ton, the deficiency of the credits, would still amount to S31,378 51, 
But, sir, the allegation, that it is impossible to discover whether 
these credits have been allowed at Washini^ton or not, vTithout the ' 
transcripts referred to, is, in my judgment, utterly destitute of foun- 
dation. Look at the report of expenditures under that section, and let 
any candid man answer me whether it is possible, that those sums could 
have been credited in the late governor's accounts, and that the comp- 
troller, and the committee of ways and means, with those accounts 
before them, could not have discovered it. (Mr. Van Buren here reaiJ 
the items of the report of 1813, under that section; among^ which 
were the following : "Transportation of a number of uniform compa- 
nies to Staten Island, including boarding and transportation of bag- 
gage, S240(). Forage, SlOl'i.^Fire wood and straw, §1210," &c. &c. 
and commented on each item separately.) 

Let me not be told, sir, when the very particular manner in which 
the payments to the late governor, are entered at Washiufiton, is con- 
sidered, that those credits could escape the comptroller's vigilance, if 
they had in truth been so allowed. It is not credible ! The comp- 
troller's own letter to the committee of ways and means, bears on its 
face an ample refutation of this assumption : to prove this, let two 
items only be referred to. In the report of 1813, the comptroller re- 
ports the expenditure of §131 for the purchase of cannon ball picked 
up, and ammunition taken from the enemy ; on referring to the late 
governor's accounts at Washington, he makes out that this charge is 
allowed, by combining seven vouchers of that description, making the 
amount. Again, in the same report, is included a charge of S122 — 
for wages to armourers, and quarter master sergeants, and he finds two 
vouchers for expenditures of that description, amounting to the precise 
sum. These items, sir, form a part of the §105(1 of that report, 
which has been allowed at Washington ; and I submit it to the intelli- 
gence and candor of the committee, whether, if the other expenditures 
under that section had been disposed of in like manner, there is room 
to doubt that the fact miglit have been discovered by the statements. — 
The comptroller might at least have shewn, had the facts accorded with 
his representations, that allowances for similar expenditures, to nearly 
the same amount, had been credited to the late governor, at Washing- 
ton. But he has not attempted it — uay, more, although the most vol - 
uminous communications have been made to the legislature, these ab- 
stracts from Washington, form no part of them ; but are returned to 
him, at his instance. Why are they not communicated ? they are of 
no use to the comptroller, except as evidence upon this point. 1 haVc^ 
not seen thenj ; but 1 entertain not a doubt, if they were before us, the 
iiispection of them would dt;moDstrate the falsity and the injustice of 
his imputations. In every point of view, therefore, in which I have 
been able to regard this bold attempt to account for the deficiency of 
the report of 1813, I am constrained to regard it, not only as abortive 
in its execution, but highly unjustifiable in its design. 

The next effort which is made by the comptroller, to obviate the de- 
duction made from his report of 1813, — ^deductions which have put his 
ingenuity to the severest test, and which meet hira at every point to which 



21 

be may lead the discu.>>iaii ; is, his allegation, that the lale governor has 
drawn monies out of the treasury, ijn«ler the »Hli'eient appropriations, 
since the return of his vonrhers in lSl-1, for the expenditure of which 
he ha•^revJ(lere;i no arcouat, and that couatquently, his inability to ac- 
count in 1818, cana(it have arisb^i from the loss of vouchers on that oc- 
casion. The appropriations he refers to, are the f(»llowing, viz. 
Under ihe act' of April, 1815, for ann^:, &c. 22,200 

October, 18 14, payment of volunteer militia, 24,743 

for fortifications, 13,368 

rcc'd. from the U. Slates, 6O0O 



g66,5n 
I am no great accountant, sir, and the ex-iUilnation of this mat- 
ter, ^vhich a sense of duty required at my hands, has been painful 
K> me : unwilling, however, to condemn or approve, without un- 
derstanding the subject, (as is too often the case,) I have probed 
the truth of this assertion, as far as is practicable: and if I have 
Rot cgregiously deceived myself, I shall be able to demonstrate to 
Vhe committee, that the attempt to subject the late governor, to the 
imputation of mal-appropriation of the public monies, ought, in 
JAistice, to recoil on the head of its inventor. The amount appro- 
priated by the 5th section of the act of June 12, 1812, for the pur- 
poses contemplated by it, v/as Uventy-fivc thousand dollars : and 
that by the 6th section, fifty thousand dollars. When, however, it 
became necessary to expend these monies, it v/as discovered that, 
the amounts appropriated, v/cre greatly inadequate. The legisla- 
ture not being in session, and a majority of the assembly strenuous- 
ly resisting ail appropriations to support the war ; the only alterna- 
tive presented to tlie late p,overnor, was to let the public cause suf- 
fer, or on his own responsibility, exceed the appropriations author- 
ized by those sections, and to apply oiher sums appropriated by the 
legislatur-c, for certain purposes of defence, to other and more 
pressing objects, necessary for the general protection; ever anx- 
ious to'promote the general good, and regardless of his individual 
embarrassments, he 'chose the latter course. In due season, \m 
communicated his doings in this particular, to the legislature ; 
who, by law, authorized the allowance of (he excess of expenditure, 
out of any unexpended " appropriations nrade for purposes oi de- 
fence." 

In March, 1816, the comptroller was again called upon by the 
assembly, to report the monies which had been drawn from the 
treasury by Governor Tompkins, and the expenditure thereof — 
The report of the comptroller, in pursuance to that call, will be 
found ia the journals cf that s<ssion, (page 526,) and on referring 
to it, the comiuittec will find, 

1st. That the late governf>r's expenditures under tho 5th and 6th 
sections of the act, June I2th, 1S12, had exceeded the appropriation 

SS50,991: . 

2a. Thavt'lie very monies constituting; the two first items, rcler- 



22 

red to by the comptroller, (excepting about g2000,) amounting tc 
846,000, are there reported to have been drawn from the trettsury, 
by the late governor. 

3d. That no particular account of the expenditure is given ; and 

4th. That the reason why this had not been done, is given by the 
comptroller himself, in these words, Journals 1816, page 532 — 3 ; 
*' It will be seen, that the Governor's expenditures, under 
*= some of the sections of the said act of i2th June, 1812, exceed 
*' the appropriations made by those sections respectively ; and it 
" will also be seen, that other afjfirofiriatlons have been drawn., and 
" no account rendered of the expenditure of such afijirofiriations. The 
" 3d section of the act to provide for the repayment of certain sums of 
" money, advanced by the corporation of the city of New-York, for 
" the defence of this state, and for other purposes, passed 24th Oct. 
** 1814, and the 3d section of the act for the payment of certain of- 
** ficers of government, and for other purposes, passed 1 8th April, 
" 1815, authorises the allowance and payment of the said excess of 
" expenditures. 

" But as the governor has not drawm any money under 
" THIS authority, the excess must have been satisfied 
" out of the said appropriations, for which no accounts 
" have been rendered." 

Here then, sir, is demonstration, that what is now alleged to be 
wrong, was, in 1816, officially accounted for to the legislature ; and 
that the comptroller is m illing, for the purpose of stigmatising the 
late governor, to urge as a charge of mal-appropriation, that, which 
he himself acknowledged innocent, and has solemnly and satisfacto- 
rily exfilained. 

In regard. Sir, to the sum included for fortifications, amounting to 
S19,3G8, it is proper to remark, that it contains S<^>5000, received from 
the United States, which is actually charged by them to Governor 
Tompkins, in the books of the war department at Washington. He 
being- thus held accountable to the genenil government for its expendi- 
ture, cannot, with any kind of propriety, be charged again by the state. 
And I am at a loss to discern the cogency of the reasons assigned by 
the committee of ways and means, for persisting to hold him accounta- 
ble here, '* until he shall have discharged himself at Washington." To 
be held to pay the money once is surely enough, and if it is properly 
due there, it is not chargeable here. But to the remaining sum of 
g 13,368.21, which is stated to have been drawn for the completion 
of fortifications on Staten Inland^ I must be permitted to call the at- 
tention of the committee. From the location of this expenditure, 
in the county of Richmond, the residence of the late governor, and 
to give additional venom to the slanders in circulation, much indus- 
try has been used to inculcate the idea, that this sum was drawn di- 
rectly from the treasury, and that no part of it has cvpr been appro- 
priated or accounted for. 

The late governor, on the 26th March, 1816, received a credit 
for gl44,772.95, of expenditures, for fortifications, as appears by 
the journals of the assembly of 1816, page 531 ; including a balance 



23 

of Sl,366, in the hands of the commissioners, and the whole balance 
receivea by him for that object, then unaccounted for, was g9,(174 94 
1 his balance, Mr. Chairman, beyound all doubt, has been faithfully 
expended, and is included in the sums advanced to at-ents, credited 
to the late governor by the act of the last session, amountinc^ to up- 
wards of 880,000, which have not yet been distributed under the 
ditterent heads of expenditure ; and I make no doubt but part, if 
not all, will be found, whenever they shall be investigated, in the ac- 
counts of John M'Lean, which, l;y the journals of the assembly, 
were lodged for examination, and to which the late governor has 
had, as yet, no access.* 

Since the accomit of the 26th March, 1816, was audited. Sir, the 

late governor has received for fortifications, as follows, viz — 

Journals 1819, 465, 1816, Aprils, ^5,000 

466, May 10, ' 2,000 

?' Dec. 19, 3,500 

^y Dec. 27, 5,500 

» 1817, Feb. 22, 7,000 

For timber sold, 668 78 



. ,, , ^^ S23,668 73 
And he has accounted for and received credit as follows, viz — 

JouiTials 1819, 465, 1817, July 23, §18,424 40 

466, 1818, Jan. 15, 135 

469, 1818, Jan. 25, ],ioi 75 

471 18 19, Jan. 29, 336 98 

-Appendix to > 99 1819, Aug. 27, 416 11 

lour. 1820, 5 lt)5 „ „ ],000 

_,, . , ^ 821,414 24 

lHus u appears that the amounts drawn since 3d April, 1816, 
ncluding the appropriations last made, independent of such part of 
he 80,000 dollars not yet arranged under its proper head of expen- 
fiture, there is but little more than two thousand dollars w hich is 
lot recorded on the journals of the Assembly as duly accounted fori 
\nd yet. Sir, the committee of ways and means have reported, that 
mder the act of I2^A JK^ve?nder, 1816, the late governor is deficient 
he sum of S13,368.2l. Even the con»ptroller was not willing to 

* This suggestion of Mr. Vnii Buren has been verified. A slight inspection 
it those accounts has been obtained by a friend of Governor Tompkins, and 
hey are found to contain, among specific clmrges for labour at Fort Riclj- 
oond, Staten Island, receipts ironi the same individuals, for the same servi- 
:es and expenses, as ^vcre allowed by Mr. M'lntyre, in the fortification ac- 
count, of 26lh Mar. 1S16. Application was made, in behalf of Governor Tomn- 
cms, lor abstracts of the voucherss but it was refused, on the Ln-ound th-.t 
he account, not havinr. been audited, was liable to be Wken a\va% b) mV 
M'Lean,— vvfurh has since Ix^en done, in consequence of that iu)plicatiop" 
'Vna yet have Mr. M'lntyre and his deputy positively cei-tilled. that this mo" 
i^ remamed unaccounted for, notwithstanding accounts have been in that 
>fficefor examination, for more than two vcaj-s, which absolutely contain ex- 
)enditures for those objects. 



21 

go thus tar, although he was not backward m certUyhig posidveiy 
that certain appropriations were unsatisfied, wiien there were in his 
books acknowledged credits of upwards of 80,000 dollars, which had 
been advanced to agents in different departments, and which, with- 
out recourse to the details of expenditure, he could not know had 
not been applied on those very appropriations ! Did the committee 
of ways and means. Sir, properly pursue the facts w^hich an ordinary 
degree of dihgencc would have disclosed to them, or blindly adopt- 
ing the information of the comptroller, transcend even him in the 
unholy work of misrepresenting the late governor ? It is indeed to 
be feared, Sir, that in entering into this investigation they did not 
discard all former prepossessions, and listened too credulously to' 
careless statements or interested misrepresentations. 

It is proven, Sir, that these sixty thousand, three hundred and 
eleven dollars, which, in 1820, the comptroller would have us be- 
lieve, were appropriated by Governor Tompkins to his own use, 
ivere expended in the public service, and that the fact, that forty- 
seven thousand dollars had been so expended, w^as known to the 
comptroller in 1816, and thus solemnly reported by him to the le- 
gislature. 

I am satisfied that no possible answer can be given to the position 
I have taken, in regard to these monies. There wi-ll, however, be 
sufficient time before this discussion closes, to advise with the comp- 
troller, and to correct me if I am wrong ; but if that is not done, 
which I am persuaded cannot be, I trust I shall neither be deemed ii 
uncharitable or illiberal, in regarding this third attempt to acconnt i 
for the lost vouchers, as evincing an orerv\eening anxiety to heap 
reproach on the late governor, and disclosing motives of vi character 
wholly different from a mere discharge of official (Uity. 

I have thus, Sir, as 1 hope, fully and impartially examined the va- 
rious grounds which have been taken by the comptroller to account 
for the cleficieJicy of ufnvards of fifty -six thousand dollars^ of the 
vouchers acknowieds:ed to have been rendered by the late governor 
to the comptroller, in 18 IG; and I trust, satisfi.ed the committee 
that those grounds are* one and all, unicnable. They are so in fact ; 
and upon a careful review of all the circumstances, 1 am thoroughly 
convinced that the late governor sustained a very serious and exten^ 
sive loss by the accidental mislaying, or fraudulent suppression of 
his vouchers, at the period referred to. That they were separated 
from each other, is proved by the fact of their not being all returned 
when first demanded by Goverhoi' I'ompkins. And when com- 
plaint was made by him of tlie lo.ss, in searching for, and returning a 
few more papers, the comptroller liimself was not prepared to say 
they "were all sent back, biit qualifies hi* letter, which accompanied 
them, by saying that he beUe\)td they were alb 

When I say, however, that those voucjicr^; were either mislayei:!, 
or fraudulent lij sufifiressed^ I must not be understood as insinuating 
that they were so suppressed by the comptroller, or !iis deputy ; 
mtich as my opinion of that officer has changed, I have never sup' 



25 

posed him guilty of so foul an act ; nor has he, to my knov/ledge or 
understanding, been charged with it by the late governor. Had he 
not chosen to assume to himself that imputation, and accompanied 
his refutation with an attack on the late governor, in point of invec- 
tive and scurrility without precedent in a correspondence of the 
kind,— I am well satisfied that it would have given that gentleman 
pleasure to have disavowed the imputation ; but, Sir, the obvious- 
ness that the assumption was made to justify the virulence of the 
comptroller, and the outrageous indecency of his letter of the 13th 
December, 1819, has put it out of the power of Governor Tomp- 
kins, without derogating from his own dignity, to notice it in any 
manner. 

It by no means follows, sir," that if these vouchers were destroy- 
ed, that it rnust have been done by the comptroller or his deputy.— = 
There were not wanting men, at that period, who had the strongest 
possible inducements, to break through evcrv consideration of integ- 
rity and honour, to annoy the late governor. It cannot be forgotten, 
that he had the preceding spring, been called upon to exercise the 
strongest attribute of poAver, with which he was invested by the con- 
stitution, to save the bleeding honour of the state, and protect its 
dearest interest from the mercenary grasp of a most unprincipled 
cotribination. It is well knbv/n, that by so doing, he exposed him- 
self to the malice of a band of veterans in iniquity, possessed both 
of capacity and the disposition, to inflict upon him the severest ven- 
geance. Men who were withheld by no ties of honour, no obliga- 
tions of conscience ! who bartered thier owh integrity for gold, and 
lent themselves the depraved instruments of corruption, to pol- 
lute the fountains of our laws, and destroy the palladium of our li- 
l^erties ! 

The sceiies which were arrested by the prorog-ation in 1812, were 
i'enewed in 1813, when the BONtJs OF the bank of America was 
relinquished ; between many of the actors in those nefarious 
schemes, and the comptroller, there existed a strong political affin- 
ity ;* they had free access to his ofiice ; they t^^ere actuated by a 
spirit of resentment against the late governor, which has, to this day, 
lost none of its virulence, and which will doubtless pursue him to 
his grave ; — ^and how far he may have been made a victim at the un- 
hallowed shrine of political vengeance, and disappointed cupidity, 
remains to be developed by the progressive hand of time. 

The threats and execrations of those men, at that day, were cla- 
morous and vindictive,— but their anathemas and denunciations 
-ivere never more deep or loud than at the present moment ; and, 
shame on the degeneracy of the times, (notwithstanding the indeli- 
ble disgrace inflicted upon the character of the state, by their flagi- 
tious machinations,) some of these very men, who were driven by 
the late governor, in exercise ©f the constitutional energies, dis- 

* The letter of David Thomas, to Edward Savag-e, published in the Albany 
Argus, of 24th March, speaking of Archibald M-Intyre, as en^a^ed in tlie 
name political projects; is Qvidence of the truth of this 4?elaraUon, Edit©?., 

4 



26 

cofnfited and dismayed, from the hall of our legislatureVby new 
tiiiion of interests, and new combinations of party, are enabled, in 
that very hall, to thunder forth declamatery invectiye and calumny 
against him. 

If, in the tv,*o positions I have taken in regard to these accounts, 
I am correct ; — -and, if wrong, let my errors be pointed out, and I 
^ill be the first to yield my firm conviction to the force of truth. 
But, Sir, if these positions shall remain unanswered, then is it con- 
clusive that the balance of Ji^ 11 9,62 9.50, claimed by the state from 
the late governor, is wholly unjust. That it is so in a very great 
degree, is beyond all question ; and the probability that such is en- 
tirely the case, is greatly increased, by the manner in which thc3e 
accounts have been settled, and the prkici^^les wheh have governed 
the comptroll'cr in his audit. 

Permit me, Sir, to illustrate this position by reading to the com- 
mittee the items still suspended, wilh the reasons for their suspen-' 
^ion by the comptroller. [Here Mr. Van Buren read that part of 
the comptroller's report, and undertook to shew, that of the large 
sums still suspended by him, many of them were so on grounds 
of informahty, v/hen no- rational doubt could exist as to their jus- 
tice.] 

It was in view of claims like these, Sir, on the part of the state, 
against the late governor, and of a balance thus produced, that the 
legislature were called upon to prescribe an equitable mode of set- 
tlement ; but these. Sir, Avere not the only considerations which 
were presented, calling for the display of the justice and liberality of 
the state, but others forcibly demanded attention. 

The time will not permit me, however, to discuss these matters 
at large, desirable as their discussion is rendered by the gross mis- 
representasions which are made in regard to them. They consisted 
•of great advantages and positive pecuniary gain to- the state, in con- 
sequence of the assumption of personal responsibilities by the late 
gevernor, m the disposition and acquisition of arms and munitions 
of war; sesponsibilities which, if he had been unfortunate, wouM 
have involved him in irretrievable ruin. — Of a great variety of sa- 
crifices and expenditures required by the state of the country, though 
not authorized by law, and for which it is not pretended that he has 
been in any way remunerated. — Of the entire prostration, for yeai'^, 
of his individual credit, and the consequent prejudice to his private 
affairs. — The destruction of his health by unremitted Ubours in the 
public service, and of his peace of mind, by enormious and long con- 
tinued responsibilities. Considerations, v/hich,. although founded 
on no le'j^al claim against the- state, addressed themselves to the 
hearts and understanding of every man not poisoned by prejudice, 
or constitutionally insensible to the claims of merit ^ nor did they 
address themselves in vain. Then the venomous spirit of political 
rivalry had not connected itself with the question ; all seemed anx- 
ious to be foremost in doing justice to a meritorious citizen, who, as 
acknowledged by ail, hud done the state a service, which ought ne- 
ver to be forgotten. 



A'rcsolHtion was passed io the Assembly unanimously, and in tiie 
Senate aearly so, appointing commissioners with powers similar to those 
appointed to sehle the accounts of the revolutionary war. By consent 
©f Governor Tompkins, gentlemen were named who had always been 
his political opponents.; they met, heard and discussed his claims with 
impartiality, and decided on terms of settlem.eut which would have left 
him a balance of upwards of |60,000. Accident rendered this decision 
inoperative : their report was, however, communicated to the legisla- 
ture, and refered to a joint committee, composed again, in a great degree, 
of his most violent political opponents. T4iey also assembled and deli- 
berately considered his case ; the comptroller wasxonsulted in their de- 
liberations, and after the most mature ccnsideration, they became satisfi- 
ed of tlie diificulty, if not impracticability, of arriving at a correct ad- 
justment of the accounts; and by the advice of the comptroller, they de- 
cided on making an allowance of premium to the late governor, for ser- 
vices eminently valuable to the state, whish would discharge the ac- 
countability of the late^overncr aad create a balance in his favor; and 
a bill, containing those provisioHs, v/.as reported and passed into a law. 

By Ihe passage of this law, so honorable to the state, and so just to the 
late governor, all difficulties between them seemed to be settled, and his 
Bumerous friends were relieved from their anxieties on account of the 
BauUiplied and distressing embarrassments in which his devotion to his 
country had involved him. But alas ! their satisfaction was cf short du- 
ration. Notwithstanding the.geaeral good .will whicli was professed by all, 
a disposition, covertly, but decidedly hostile to the provisions of the bill, 
upon its passage in the Assembly, was evident to those v/ho, without re- 
gard to professions, look deeper into the views of men. Several abortive 
attempts wefe made by distinguished rnembers of that, body, to curtail 
and substantially defeat the operations of the law; that disposition, how- 
ever, manifested itself too late, and the bill passed as it was reported. 

The execution of this law devolved upon a single officer ; within tea 
days after its .passage, the comptroller discovered difficulties in its con- 
struction, which had neither been anticipated by its friends, or avowed 
by himself, and after a tedious but fruitless ne-gociation, he finally re- 
solved to defeat the lav/ altcgether, by refusing to allow a single dollar 
under it. It is not fcr,me to gay or insinuate what were the inducements 
which led to this sudden and unexpected change ; to do that might re- 
quire a deeper scrutiny into the hearts of men, than the policy of the 
times allow. I leave the justitcation of this decision to those who pro- 
<luced, it and tljeir motives to the judgment of an enlightened public^ 

The feelings of the late governor were, as they could not fail to be, 
much excited by thia unlooked-for measure, and he -fancied then he was 
made a victim to political designs, end that conviction contributed to a 
discussion of much warmth and acrimony, cf which the committee, ae 
^vell as the public, are fully advised. It io in consequence of the stand 
4hus taken by the comptroller, that the bill upon your table has become 
necessary, ar>d this brings us to the discussion cf tije merits, and of the 
^various objections which have been made to the allowance claimed un- 
der the act of the last session, as well by the comptroller as by the goiE' 
nuUee of ways agd raegos of the hou. the asserablv. 



28 

Upon Hue subject, sir, I cannot help observing, that I know of no in 
stance, nor do I believe that any has existed, iu which a bold attempt to 
mislead the public mind from the real point in controversy, to one which 
never had existence, has met with more success. From the commence- 
ment of this dispute dov.n to this very moment, the most unwearied in- 
dustry has been exercised to sho;7 that it was on account of the large 
mms of money which had been claimed out of the treasury, that the 
comptroller refused the allotvance contemplalcd by the act. And it is 
more than probable that tlicusands of honest but deluded men still la- 
bor under that impression. 

It is false, ?ir, in all respects false, that the rate of tre- 

MIUM OR amount CLAIMED BY THE LATE GOVERNOR, HAD ANT THING 
TO DO WITH OR IN ANY SENSE LED TO THE GROUND TAKEN BY THE 
C03IPTR0LLER. 

When, sir, was that ground taken ? In Aprils within ten days after 
the passage of the law, when Mr. Hronsou's letter had not existence; 
>vhen the certiiicate of Prime, Ward and Sands, had not been produced ; 
ivhen not a word had been said on the subject of premium. I hold iu 
my hand, sir, and I submit it for the iuspectiou of the committee, the 
original letter of the comptroller to the late governor, wliich gives liis 
final answei-o It says net a word alwid the extent of the demand or the 
rate of premium ; he puts himself on the con^struction of thk 

ACT, AND on that ALONE. 

But, sir, why waste our time on that subject? If the late governor has 
ever made this extensive claim, when, where, and how was it done ? 
I^et any man put his finger upon the proof of it. But in the name of 
all that is decent, let us not hear of what might have been done, and 
what the comptroller ?7iight have apprehended, might have been claimed.. 

Of reasoning like this, whatever success it may have met with else- 
where, I trust in God it is not calculated far this meridian. 

If, as the committee of ways and means say, that the comptroller 
might nell have " understood" that such were the claims of the late go- 
vernor, why, in the name of common seuse, did he not put that matter 
at rest, by simply asking him whether be did in fact claim that amount.? 
That, sir, would have decided the question. Subsequent events have 
clearly shewn what the answer would have been, and I fear as clearly 
the reason rvhy the inquiry nas not made. As early as August last, the 
late governor distinctly informed the comptroller, that he claimed but 13 
per centum, and that he would receive do balance under the act, over 
^25,000. This is admitted by the comptroller; but he says this was 
after the negociation >f as broken off. Indeed, sir ! And why did he not 
then resume the negociation ? Or Avas the state to be involved in a con- 
troversy, jeopardizing its quiet and subjecting its character for justice to 
question, on a point of etiquette raised by its comptroller ? If the amount 
claimet: was the difficulty, why did not that officer express to the late 
governor his satisfaction at jfifiding that he had misunderstood his views 
on that head, and seize on the opportunity thus presented, to terminate 
the controversy ? If that was not the difficidfy, why has it been dragged 
into the discussion ? I will tell you, sir. It has happened that laws 
deeply exciting the public interest, after a lapse of yearg, when those 



29 

ir.dlvidaals \7]io IvDctt the objects of the legislature, had passed awaf, 
have been perverted by the quibbles of casuists, and their operation de- 
feated. But ill cases like the present, where the intent and lueaning of 
tiic legislature, was fresh iu the recollection of every member of that 
body, some device was necessary iu order that the motives which ha^e 
dictated the construction of an act which defeats its original designs, 
should be guarded from public scrutiny. The people of tiiis state knew 
weH wiiat was the intention of the legislature in regard to that law; they 
knev.' that the construction put upon it by the comptroller, was coiitraiy 
to that it)t«:ntion : no sophistry could convince them otherwise, and they 
would nol stoop to consi«Jer the tinselled logic resorted to, to prove that 
Ihrydi.l not kno7v hgalli/, \ihi\\. their entire judgment approved. It was 
to bolster up that construction adopted wilhontrcasou to conceal its falla- 
cy, and by alarming the public jealousy for the interests of the treasury, 
that their attention was diverted from the rt^al point in controversy. 
iiut, sir, I will pursue this to^ic no farther, and I desist, because I trust 
there ir^ not one man in this committee so wretched in intellect, or so wil- 
fully blind, as to be really deceived in regard to it. 

!t is therefore the cerreciuess of the ComptrolLer's construction, *Hhat 
Ihc law was not intcmlcd to (ipph) to loans, when in addition to the late 
iiurcrnor''^ personal re "pom^ibiliti/, he likewise deposited treasury notes^" 
which is alone the subject of dispute, and should, iu reviewing the me- 
rits (;f that dispute, be the only subject of discussion; and iu enterk^g in- 
to the investigation, 1 confess myself embarrassed by the apprehension, 
that it cannot be otherwise than wearisome to the committ-ee. 1 feel, sir, 
that the mind of every intelligent man, must have long since become sa- 
tibfied of tiie fallacy of the construction, setup by the Comptroller: But 
J must beg the indulgence of the committee, while I attempt to establish 
the fact beyond controversy. [Mr. Van Beuren here entered into a mi- 
nute discussion of the various reasons, which liave beea assigned for and 
against the Comptroller's construction, and of the principles which ought 
to govern in the case, but which, under a full con\ictiou, that no intelli- 
gent man doubts that the interpretation of the act, by the Comptroller, 
was, to say the least of it, manifestly wrong. It is not thought necessa- 
ry to publish his arguments. He proceeded.] 

There is orte circumstance, Mr. Chairman, which has not failed to pro- 
duce feelings of surprise and regret in my mind, and I trust it can have 
no other operation in the minds thi^ committee. It is, sir, that while on 
the one hand, the late governor had taken the written opinions of nine 
counsellors, who, together, form a constellation of talent and a body of 
prof'issional character, not to be exceeded iu this or any other country; 
the comptroller had taken this important step, had assumed ground which 
ivent wholly to defeat a solemn act of the legislature, before the ink with 
which it was signed, was scarcely dry, without the acknowledged ssuac* 
tiou of a single responsible opinion ! 

I will not, for obvious reasons, ask why he did not, as^was usual to 
him on such occasions, take the opinion of the then law officer of the go- 
vernment ; but I will ask why,' when that officer was removed, and ano- 
ther, iu whose opinions he undoubtedly repored implicit confidence ap- 
pointed, he did not coasult liiin; that his cocduct in this affair, might at 



30 

ieasjt have tlie appearance of being guuled bj no other motives than coa- 
sideratioDS of biisioess. Or if he became entangieci by his first step oq 
this head; or if he was fearful, that by consuUiog the pieseot attoruey 
geoeral, he would expose the motives which had led to t\ie appoinhaent of 
that distinguished officer, to suspicion, why did he not take the opinion 
of other professional men, at the ezpense of ihis state ? It is to be regret- 
ted that he did not do so, much good might have resulted from it. It 
woirid atleasthave served to viiidicale the public justice; to have repelled 
the suspicion, difficult of suppression, that €very thing, io ihis devoted 
state, is made to bend to the purposes of party, and to have removed the 
"impression which exists abroad, that the highest aad most sacred offices 
«f our government, are too often prostituted in the service of faction. 
These considerations have, however, been wholly disr<3gardcd, and no 
justifiable reason has yet been assigned, why either of these courses was 
not pursued, arul I fear that the cas2 will not admit of any. 

The next objection raised by the committee of ways and means, to the 
allowance claimed by the late governor, is tbe a^ledged deficiency of 
proof, that his personal resptmsibility was subjected for the loans in ques- 
tion. I will examine this part of that report io detail, and I pledge my- 
self to demonstrate^ that (with the sitigle exception of the loan from the 
Mechanics' i}ai>k, in New-York, the evidence of which is lost by the 
death of tlie then cashier of that institution,) that commtttee are wholly 
^vrong in this part of their report, and in most respects grossly so. {Mr* 
Vau Bcureu liien read the various documeuts rdatiiig to each loan, and 
commented on their import and legal eil'ect. Tl»eir lecgth renders lh<s 
publication of them impracticaWe. 

1. As to the loan from tlie i^Ianhattan company, the original agree- 
ment by which the late governor made himseLf expressly liable for the 
ioan. 

2. That from the New-York Stale bank, a similar j>greemeDt. 

3. Frcfm the bank of America, a similar agreement. 

4. From the Farmers' and Mechanics' bank of Albany, a similar 
agreement. 

5. From the Cily bank of New- York, a certificate from the cashier, 
that the late governor had made himself personally responsible for the 
loan, and he shewed also, from the repoit of the committee of ways and 
means, that he had become so, by consenting to a sale of the treasury 
notes for what they would fetch, contrary to the act of congress, by which 
all officers entrusted with treasury cotes, were held liable for their par 
value, and prohibited the disposal of them for kss. 

6. Corporation of New- York ef$ 400,000: A certificate from T. R. 
Smith, Secretary of the committee of defence of said corporation, that 
the said loan was made upon the promise of the late governor, that he 
"would ipdorse the treasury notes to be delivered in his individual capa- 
city. 

7. A second loan from the Manhattan company: A certificate from 
the President, that this loan was effected on die same security ag the first, 
and a consent also, to dispose of the treasury notes, as they might think 
proper. 

8o A second loao from the corporation of New-York of $ 100,000i 



31 

A certificate from th« secretary of the committee of defence, that thelate 
governor had made himself personally responsible by indorsing the trea- 
surynotts; and concluded by sayinj^] 

1 have thus, sir, I hope, to the saiislaction of every member of this cota- 
mittee, redeemed my pJed«i;e to demonstrate ihe palpable mistakes into 
Avhicb liie lionorable committee of the other liou^se liave fallen on this 
point, and of proving, that the persona! responsibility of the late gover- 
nor was pledged for the repayment of these loans, and will therefore at>> 
slain from farther remarks on that head. Tliere is, however, one cir- 
cumstance, connected witJi the last certificate of the secretary of the com- 
mittee of defence, so illustrative of the fine and noble feelings of that day, 
and artbrding so melancholy a conUast with those of the present period^ 
rhat I canrwt avoid adverting to it. It appears, sir, that the monies rai- 
sed upon that loan, were expended i'l the payment of the Jersey militia— 
at a momerjt when the city of JN'ew-Yoik was menaced with destruction 
•—when the aJarm for its safety was at its height ; the attention of our 
brethren of New- Jersey was directed to our protection, and' Dotwilh- 
alandin^ the danger to which iheh own coast was expesed, she sent a gal- 
lant and pf*(iiotic band of her citizen soldiers, for the defence of New- 
York— In common with the miAtia of our state, they were kept owt of 
their pay, and subjeiUed to the greatest embarrassments in obtaining sup- 
plies, ihrouch the inability of the general government to furnish themeaus 
— to'atTord reli( f in the pressing emergency, and guard against the disis-^ 
trous consequences which niight have /esuited from it to the service;— 
Gov. Tompkins, on his own responsibility, raised these monies and ex- 
peuded thenr as 1 have stated. The feelings which were produced by 
that noble act, are so well portrayed in a letter from their coramaader-, 
that I cannot resist Uie opporlucity of submitting it to the committee. It 
was thus, sir, that the men to whom the country looked for defence at that 
period, felt aud acted. 

(COPY.) 

Camp, Jersey Cityy Dec. 9, 1814. 

His ExceUency Gov. Tompkins - 

About leaving the post which lias been afsi^ned me by ray country, 
T camot avoid, in behaM* of the regiment under my coramaod, testifyia^ 
to vour excelleftey, the great satisfaction that tas been expressed by all, 
at the conduct of the state of New-York, through the individual exer-- 
Uons of her commander in chief, in her behalf: And through me, as their 
comm Oder, to return to your excellency for them and mysel/, our grate- 
ful acknowledgments for the favors conferred in visiting anU comtortiog 
us, and in paying U3 our due ; and I do not hesitate to declare, iq behalf of 
all that under every calamitous and dangerous situation, m which your 
Giiy may be placed, we shaU feel a readiness to be among the number 
i.ho ^haU act iu her defence, and in the defence of our commoQ country, 
I am. Sir, yours with esteem, 

' J. W. FRELINGIIUYSEN, 

IcAe under your command* 



I confess, sir, that it is witli dilTiculty that I can repress my fcelibgi 
ID reriviog the recollection of those iuterestiog scenes ; and I pity, sii% 
from my soul I pity the wretch, who, rendered callous by the petty in- 
trigues of the hour, can remain insensible to their influence. Such ser- 
vices oaglit never to be forgotten ; but it would seem that they ai e no 
longer regarded. Forgotten, did I say? Tiiey are not forgotten ! It 
would be a libel on the honest yeomanry of this state, to suppose that 
they could ever cease to remember them with sentiments of the warmest 
gratitude. It is only by those who never in their hearts approved the 
glorious cause in which they were performed, to whom their author ne 
ver appeared more offensive, than when in the very act of perfornni!j^ 
them, that they are now disregarded, ridiculed and reviled. 

But we are next told by the honorable committee, that the late gover- 
nor, in etTecting these loans and the expenditure of them, acted as the 
agent of the general government, and that therefore the allowance ought 
not to be made to him. After it had been distinctly admiited, as wel! 
by the commissioners, Coldeu and Rogardus, that these services furnish- 
ed no grouiKi for legal claim against the state -, after it had also been 
stated in terms by the joint connniltee of the last session, in the report 
which is in our journals; and after a full view of that matter, the legisla- 
ture had considered, that although they found no legal claim, they not- 
withstanding presented consideratioas of such strong eqitily, as to entitle 
them to our consideration ; and on that avowed ground, passed the law in 
question. When these thing? were considered, it could scarcely have 
been anticipated by any one, that among all tiie pretences which might 
be resorted to, to defeat the operation of that law, this stale and for«gor>e 
conclusion would liave been again pressed into the service. But the 
honorable the committee of ways and meaos are not content with this. 
They go farther, and say, that these services do not " furnish the 

LEAST PRETENCE FOR A CLAIM UPON THIS STATE." I COnfcSS, sir, that 

I have read this pari of their report wiUi pain anrl with unfeigned regret, 
and do hope, for the character of the state, for the honor of human na- 
ture, that I am not alon«^ in that sentiment — that I am not the only man 
who apprehends that posterity will look upon our journal^ in this parti= 
cular, as upon the record of our ingratitude. 

Look, sir, at the state of Uie country, and of the city of New-Tork 
in particular, when the loans from the liauk of America, and the ether 
public bodies in that city, were obtained^ and reflect on the uses to which 
they were appropriated. The capitol of the nation had been laid in 
ashes by a ruthless foe, and the heads of your government driven from 
their occupations by his victorious arms; Baltimore had been saved by 
a providential interposition ; your frontiers were threatened in all direc- 
tions; large hostile armaments were known to be on the ocean, and jS'ew- 
York believed by every one to be the destined scene of their opera- 
tions : the invasion of that city was hourly expected. To meet this pe- 
rilous crisis, governor Tompkins had declined the honor and the com- 
parative ease of the department of state, tendered to him by the presi- 
dent, called from various and remote parts of the state, its best blood 
and its noblest spirits, for t4ie defence of New- York ; he contributed 
the adva^tag^ of \i\% wel! deserved popujarity and favor with the militiaj 



33 

AD(1 took upon himself the actual commi^nd ; but " to give the deepest 
'* shade to the gloomy aspect of our affairs, and add to the difficulty of 
" their redemptioo, the national government were literally pennyless." 
Kept without pay. and deprived even of the means to obtain supplieSj 
discontent and murmurs pervaded the camp — discontents which even 
(he warmth of their attachment to tlieir chief, could not subdue. At 
this critical moment, he applied for ihese loans ; hr offered to deposit 
with those banks, the most valuable securities of the government, to 
amounts larger than the loans which were asked, securities which could 
only fail with the eovernment itself. But, " tell it not in Gath, publish it 
Dot in the streets of A?kalon," that under circumstances like these, when 
the city of their fathers was threatened with destruction, and the ashes 
of those fathers exposed to indignity — when the venerable institutions, 
the monuments of the arts and the proud improvemoets of ages, were 
exposed to the hands of violence and the torch of the incendiary — wheu 
the excesses of Hampton and of Havre de Grace, were staring them in 
the face, and their wives and daughters were to be protected from pol- 
lution, — at surh a time, sir, so eminently calculated to rouse into action, 
the strongest feelings of their nature, these loans were refused, unless this 
individual, who was, as it were, a stranger in their city, would bind his 
body and his estate for their repayment. They would not trust the g^ 
Dcrnment of their country, unUas he would give his bond for its solven- 
cy. He did it, and the danger passed by. 

Turn your attention, sir, for a moment, to the north. By the ever 
glorious achievement of the gallant M'Douough, your northern frontier 
had been rescued from the grasp of the enemy : that enem) had retired 
discomfited and disgraced before a vastly inferior force, a force which, 
under the command of Generals Mooers, Strong and Macomb, had done 
all that men could do, but which from its numbers and its organizatiorj, 
afforded no adequate security against the numerous and well- disciplined 
bands by which they w»^re again to be attacked. The pride of the ene- 
my had been humbled, but his power remained unsubdued : The most 
vigorous exertions were making by his commanders to effect the re- 
<Iemption of their lost honor in the ensuing carapaigri, and " the busy 
uote of preparation'- resounded along ouj borders. The gallant army of 
IS'iagara was on Uie point of diibandmeut from the want of supplies, and 
the quarter masters ao<l contractors were without funds la this state 
of things, the contractor, Cheever, sought governor Tompkins at New- 
York, and informed him that the troops at Sacket's Harbor, would in- 
evitably be disbanded, unless instant relief was afforded. Funds for 
that purpose could not be obtained in that city : Gov. Tompkins re- 
paired to Albany. He applied to the two banks in this city ; he repre- 
»ented to them the state of affairs : and notwithstsmding the exposed state 
of oar frontiers, the danger which threatened their fellow citizens in 
those quarters, the deep Interest which this city had in the events of 
the ensning campaign, — notwithstanding one of those was your State bank, 
a very great proportion of the funds of which helon;;ed to the very peo- 
ple whose homes and firesides were to be defended—notwithstanding many 
of those to whom the management ©f that institution had been committed, 
had; atthat very moment, contracts pending with \\ip governmrnt, grow 



34 

iog out of the war. upon which they were the gajuers to rising of S300« 
000, and b; vhjch the; have amasspd spJeodid foitunrs — ihey too 
were dei-.f to the application, unless this injured individual would, by a 
foimal instrument in writing, m<»ke himself personally responsibie for the 
repayment of those monies. They too refused the security of the go- 
vcrnmeot unless he would become its ini orser. He complied, and the 
wants of your soldiers were relieved. And yet, sir, we are told that 
services like these " furnish no pretence of claim upon this state." Nay, 
more ; some of ihose men b^ve the hardihood to trifle with public sensi- 
bility, by presiding at public meetings, and puttiog their names tc ad- 
dresses to the people, heaping the severest censure and the foulest re- 
pioaches on the devoted heatl of the man whom they know to be so well 
entitled ti the lasting gratitude of the state. 

Other*, sir, may look ou sentimeots and proceedings like these with iq- 
difference, and even with compUcenc} ; but 1 cannot — I acknowledge, 
sir, that they fill my mind wih fc lings of strong, but I hope hontst io- 
dignation : IS or can I listen, sir, to the declaration that services such as 
we have been contemplating, '^furnish no pretend' of claim upon us," 
without ft eing for the reputation of this great and flourishing state: But 
I console myself, Iwwever, with an abiding hope, that the time will yet 
arrive, when better and milder feelings will prevail — Wh(n the records of 
those proceedings will be viewed in their true light, and we saved from the 
reproaches of posterity, by blotting them out forever. 

The next and closing objection raised to the claims of the late Gover- 
nor, under the act of the last session, remains to be considered ; and I sio- 
cerely wish that I could, consistent with what I deem my duty, omit the 
notice ot it. It strongly exemplifies the ravages which h'ghly excited 
political feelings make upon the brightest intellects, and the extent to which 
they may pervert the best intentions. We arc told by the committee of 
the honorable the Assembly, that the act of the lastsesgion makes an al- 
lowance to the late governor of a preminm on all monies raised by him, and 
exp^nded-in " the public service,*'— that by the public service, * must ma- 
nifestly mean the public service of this state;" and they add, if such is not 
the construction, the act would equally apply "to the public service of any 
other state or government whatever;" and as the monies in question were 
expended, technically, in the service of the U. S. it is supposed that no 
premium can, on that account, be allowed I am embarrassed, sir, by 
the respect which is justly due to the proceedings of a co ordinate branch 
of the government, in animadverting on this part of the report, and prevent- 
ed from sutijectingit to the scrutiny which, under diflTerereot circumstan- 
ces, it might deserve. To suppose that the act which this committee 
have exercised somu^h labor to expound had never been read by them, 
would be, to the last degree, disrespectful to that honorable body. But 
when I consider that the very section which authorises the allowance of 
this premium. «iirects that it shall be charged by this state to the United 
Staiesy thegrouiul on which they fancied that the " public service," coo- 
templated by the bill, was cmbanassed by difficulty, or involved in doubt, 
are, I confess, to my mind, inexplicable. But I forbear, in charity, to 
pr«3 the discussioa fiuther— 1 am apprehensive ttiat by doing so, I might 



35 

break through that deference and respect I owe to this report, and which 
I have promised to observe. 

One word more and I dismiss the subject. Did even the ambiguiiy so 
appalling to the commiUee ot ways and means, but which! coo&si^, Mr, 
Chairman, I cannot discover, reallj exist; were it necessary to establish 
claims under tlie law, to prove, ihat " public services," other than those 
of salvation to our cities and protection to our frontiers, have been ren- 
dered by Governor Tompkins, have they not been perlbrmed? Su[3pose, 
sir, instead of calling your millitia, upon his own responsibility, directly 
into the service of the United States, he had ordered it into service under 
the laws of this state, as it would have been his houndcn duty to kave donc^ 
incase of failure by the U. States tofurnish the means, what, in that case, 
would have been the unavoidable consequence ? Why, sir, the faith of the 
state would have been pledged for their payment : The publi<j coffers would 
have been drained by heavy expenses — Forced loans, of at least a million 
of dollars, at exorbitant premiums, would have been necessary — Taxes 
wt)uld have burthened your citizens — And at the end of the war, with an 
exhausted treasury, you would have had an unliquidattd account rgainst 
the general government of more than a million oi dollars. Look, sir, at those 
slates who chose to oall out their mililij under slate authority i Have their 
expenses been allowed by the general government ? I thiiik not. But, sir, 
by the wise policy of governor 'lompkins, and his fearless assumption of 
responsibilities, when othere siirunk in dismay, the burthen oi the war, 
of which this stale has been the principal theatre, has been borne by the 
general government ; aiul the losses sustaine<l by raising monies for sud' 
deu emergencies borne by the United States. 

It has struck me, Mr. Chairman, as not the least unpleasant fealurc 
in this production, that in the minute and extensive view which it pro- 
fesses to take of the conduct of the governor during the late war, not a 
lisp of commendation has escaped the committee on any point. Was his 
"^onduct censurable in all respects ? Did he do no act iu the hour of trial 
which entitled him to our thanks or our favor ? It would seem so. I aim 
sorry to be obliged to notice this evidence of jaundiced feeling in the re- 
port under consideialion; and it is with mingled feelings of mortificatiofj 
and pain that I mention it: Wot, sir, that I couJd have expected much oi* 
indulgence, or even charity, on this head from a venerable and conspicu- 
ous member of that committee; for however much I respect his private 
worth and general sfnse of justice, 1 kjiow, too well, his feelings on this 
subject, to have expected that the tenacity of his temper would yield to 
ordinary means of conviction, or his iuflexbie hostility be made i^ bend to 
considerations of public gratitude for the individual in question. I had 
the honor of sitting with him on this floor, during that period of the war, 
when he occupied a seat in this house, and wliile a great portion of these 
monies were expeiided. I remembered well the vigorous exertions he 
had made to defeat the appropriations by which those expenditures wei€ 
authorised— the great losses to the state, which he has so often anticipat- 
ed from hei support of the country, during the war, and knew too Vrell 
his great anxiety to palliate, if not justify, the course he^theu pursued, by 
proving that liis denunciations en this head were prophetic To have 
sxpected aught cf favor or todulgecce from that ^mrc^ wmiMhav^* hem 



36 

'Visionary; but I did think there was at least one member of that com* 
niittee whose feelings beat as high io tlie pubhc cause as thoseof any mac, 
at the hjterestiug period of which we have been speaking. I was loath to 
believe lliat the paltry interests of the hour could dispel those noble 
feelings of patriotism, and fjueuch theglo^v ol gratitude towards the bene- 
factor of his countr) — But no nrOre of this — Tewpora mutanturj &c> 

There are a great variety of other matters connected with this sub- 
ject, which would admit of profitable discussion, but our time will not 
allow it. I cannot, however, refrain from bestowiug a passing remark oq 
one feature io the last letter of the comptroller to the committee of ways 
and means. I allude to his lemarkson the $200 paid to capt. Magher: 
To my mind, the ronduct of the comptroller in relation to this business, 
is more offensive than it has been in any other, because, sir, to me, it 
evinces d<^ep rooted and rancorous hosiility, and serves to illustrate the 
temper which has goveruKl him throuirhout this controversy. Take 
his own statement for true, and what is it ? The late governor has re- 
ceived a credi' of $2i>0, from the geucral government, for monies which 
had b-en repaid to him, and which he ought to have credited to them, 
but which it is su-jposed by the comptroller has not been done : the 
game monies wvre once included in his accounts against the state, but 
have never been allowed. Tlie state has no longer any interest in re- 
spect to this-JTiatter. The comptroller therefore stands as a volunteer 
ID this business, wiihout the pretence of official duties to palliate his 
conduct. In this character he gets abstracts of the vice president's ac- 
counts with the U. States, amounting to between one and tivo millions of 
dollars, and after a criticrd scriit'ny, he finds ground to believe that a 
mistake has been made against that government, to the amount of $200, 
and he wishes us to believe that the late governor intended to practise a 
deliberate fraud on the government for that trifling amount. You, sir, 
^nd the members of this commiltee, all know the late governor; some of 
you have known him from his cradle ; and I put it to you and to them, 
is there a man of you, who can lay his hand upon his heart, and tell me 
that, supposing all that is said by the comptroller be true, he believes 
the late governor intended ba?ely and contemptibly to cheat the govern- 
ment out of these $200? Can you even think that the comptroller can 
have really believed that such was his design ? I know you cannot ! 

The comptroller himself is not infallible. The late governor has 
shown that he has neglected to credit him $2,200 accounted for seveo 
years ago, and twice since has he ofTicially reported him a defaulter for 
this very money. If, sir, he whose special business it is to keep the 
accounts of the state, justly and properly, whose life has been principal- 
ly spent in the intricacy of accounts, and whose fiat is made the standard 
of cotrectdess, can com.mit errors more gross and palpable than those 
he 80 rigidly condemns, common charity should admonish him to cast no 
^tone at his neighbor, and the world will reverse the harshness of his 
etiictures, when they reflect upon the mauifold difficulties and perplexi- 
ties tinder which the late governor has labored. 

I have done rtr ; but before I sit down I hope the committee will bear 
tilth me, while I submit a^ingle reufark io regard to myself; they wil! 



37 

ilo me the justice to admit, that it is oot ofteo that I trouble tbetQ''on that 
subject. It is true, sir, that I have taken no comraon interest in this cod- 
troversy, and that I have sometimes evinced a warmth of feeling in re- 
gard to it, justified, I hope, by circumstances. But I feel that I have 
a ri^ht to ask, at the hands of ilns committee, that they should exempt 
me from the imputation of being in any degree influenced by personal 
considerations. 1 know not why I should be, for I can say with truth, 
that I never in my life received either a personal or a political favor, 
from the distinguished individual whose case is under consideration. 
Wlien those, sir, who now assail him with such rancorous virulence, 
were bnsking in the sunshine of his favor, and feeding on his particular 
patronage, I knew him but as the head of that political family of which I 
was a humble member. In ihe day when these men were thronging around 
him, each endeavoring to outdo the other in professions of devotion and 
friendship, I had not even the satisfaction of regarding him among the 
Dumber of my personal friends. It was only, sir, after his esertions for 
his country had involved him in difficulties, which seemed insurmounta- 
ble ; when he was deserted by those, who no longer considered him as 
the fountain of patronage they enjoyed or expected, that I felt myself cal- 
led upon to take a p articular interest in his affairs. I have done so, 
sir, and in a course dictated by private feeling and a sense of public gra- 
titude, I trust no undue acrimony has been exhibited towards his oppo- 
nents. True it is, sir, that occasionally, when I have found him sur- 
rounded by harpies, worming themselves into his unsuspecting confi- 
dence, and collecting, with the industry of bees, every little circumstance, 
through which they may hope to blast, not only his character and lace- 
rate his lcelinc:8, but destroy the happiness of his family, I have experienced 
sensations of strong resentment, but 1 hope my judgment has not been per- 
verted nor my sense of justice impaired. Upon a deliberate review of 
his conduct, I believe him to be the most injured of men, anr' if my hum- 
ble efforts have contributed in the smallest degree to sustain him against 
the unnatural combination with which he is struggling ; to have enlivened 
the sympathies of his friends, or blunted one feeling of malevolence which 
rankled in the hearts of his enemies, my satisfaction will be complete--and 
this act of my life, sir, will not be the least pleasant of my reflections, 
Dor the first to be blotted from my memory. 



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